The present invention relates to a method for producing trifluoromethanesulfonyl chloride. Trifluoromethanesulfonyl chloride is a useful compound that is used as a raw material during production of, for example, pharmaceuticals, agricultural chemicals and various types of functional materials.
Chemical Abstracts 115:50301 discloses that trifluoromethanesulfonyl chloride is obtained by reacting trifluoromethanesulfonic acid with phosphorus trichloride.
As is shown in the reaction formula below, U.S. Pat. No. 2,732,398 discloses a process of producing trifluoromethanesulfonyl chloride, in which trifiuoromethanesulfonic acid is reacted with phosphorous pentachloride.
CF.sub.3 SO.sub.3 H+PCl.sub.5 .fwdarw.CF.sub.3 SO.sub.2 Cl+POCl.sub.3 +HCl
In this production process, however, since the phosphorous pentachloride used as raw material is a solid, there may be problems with the manner of its addition. Namely, the workability when adding phosphorous pentachloride may be poor, thus making this process unsuitable for industrial production of trifluoromethanesulfonyl chloride.